She's A Fighter
by Zip Goes A Million
Summary: Modern AU. Anna is almost killed in a car accident and Mary, her best friend, John, her husband, and Thomas, the driver of the car try not to worry themselves too much, always telling themselves that she'll get through it without any problems, despite what they really feel inside. Rated T because I'm paranoid that I'll rate it too low.
1. Chapter 1

**She's A Fighter: Chapter 1**

The paramedic arrived. Within minutes the police and the ambulance arrived as well. Anna was lying unconscious at the side of the road. Mary was explaining how things had happened, along with the man who had knocked her over. This man – a total stranger, had swerved to avoid a speeding car going on the wrong side of the road and had hit Anna and Mary in the process of doing so. Remarkable, Mary was unharmed, other than a grazed palm and a ripped coat, but Anna wasn't so lucky. She'd hit her head on the corner of the pavement and was now lying motionless. She was completely unresponsive. She was losing a lot of blood and was getting cold. Mary took off her fur coat and laid it over Anna's stiff body. She was explaining to the police what had happened, with the help of the man who had knocked them down, who felt extremely guilty and was shocked to the point of shaking. "No, you see, the car was driving on the wrong side of the road, and it was obviously speeding. I assume it was stolen or trying to get away from something," Mary said to a police officer, who was writing things down.

"Do you know what car it was? Did you see the registration?" Mary shook her head and was about to say something, but the man who'd knocked them over said,

"It was a red Toyota, I think a Prius."

"Any idea what the registration was? And, sorry, what's your name again? I don't know if I wrote it down," the officer asked.

"Thomas Barrow," the stranger said. "And all I can tell you about the number plate was that it was a standard format, had 58 as the numbers and the last letter was F, I think."

"Thank you. And your name is…?" she said, turning to Mary.

"Mary Crawley."

"And you were walking with this woman when this happened, yes?"

"Yes, I'm her best friend; we were walking back from the bus station."

"And her name is?"

"Anna Bates." Thomas was so shaken that Mary thought it highly unlikely that he was drunk, but nevertheless the police officer still said,

"Please would you come with me, sir?" Mary watched them walk to the police car and realised that he was taking a breathalyser test." Mary saw that she wasn't currently needed so turned her attention back to Anna. She crouched next to her fair haired best friend, trying not to get in the way of the paramedics. They'd managed to stop the flow of blood quite a lot, so that now Anna had a better chance of survival.

"Do you know her?" one of the female paramedics asked.

"Yes, she's my best friend. Her name's Anna," Mary said, extremely worried for Anna's welfare. They started using her name now to try to get a response, but nothing was working. Mary held her hand, but then the policeman who'd been talking to her earlier asked her to step over to talk to him.

"Thomas isn't drunk; you'll be pleased to know. Once things have settled a bit here, I'd like to take you two to the police station to give formal statements on the matter." Mary nodded, but said nothing. "Is there anyone you need to contact? Husbands, parents?" Mary hadn't even thought of calling John, she'd been so caught up in the matter.

"Oh, yes, I should ring Anna's husband. Can I tell him to come here?" The policeman nodded and Mary got out her phone to dial John's number. The policeman left her alone to talk to him. "John? It's Mary… No… um, Anna's unconscious. A car knocked us over on our way home… Yeah, I'm fine, but Anna's not and you need to be here… Err, just down the road from Ripon post office… See you in a minute, bye." Mary went straight back to Anna and crouched next to her, letting tears fall down her cheeks. It took about ten minutes before John arrived. He had dropped everything to come and see Anna. He'd left work in the middle of things, so was still in his suit and tie. He was obviously worried. Mary stood up and saw him. The police stopped him from going any further until they knew who he was. Mary ran towards him and told the police that he was Anna's husband, and with that they let him past. He and Mary went straight to Anna – one of them either side of her, holding one hand each. John had got there just in time as the doctors and paramedics were just about to get Anna onto a stretcher so that they could take her to hospital. Mary and John let her go as soon as she was lifted up. "Look, you go with her," Mary sniffed at her sadness, "I've been asked to go to the police station and give a formal statement of what happened, but I'll be at the hospital as soon as I can be." Mary gave John a quick hug before he got in the ambulance with Anna. Mary watched as the ambulance drove away and turned the corner. Then she wandered back to the policeman who'd asked her questions before with Thomas. She found Thomas running a hand through his hair, grinding his teeth. Soon they were off to the police station to sort some things out.

Mary made her way over to the hospital the second she could. Thomas was filled with guilt and also ended up there, feeling that he should pay for any damage caused. When they arrived at the hospital, they told the reception desk who they were looking for and were told that she was in emergency surgery and that no visitors would be allowed to see her for a while, due to the work the doctors were doing to save her, "…but you may stay in the waiting room until visitors are welcome, if you wish. The waiting room is down that corridor and second door on your left," the nurse at the front desk finished.

"Thank you," Mary said with a slight smile as she and Thomas made their way there. When they walked in they found John, clearly petrified and nervous. Mary sat next to him and covered his hand with hers to calm him slightly. He looked up and smiled a small smile at Mary. He then saw Thomas standing next to Mary.

"Thomas!" he exclaimed.

"John!" But then Thomas' face fell. "Oh God, is Anna your wife?" John nodded slightly. Thomas then said under his breath. "Shit! Fucking shit!" he turned around and sat opposite the two. Mary looked confused so John said with an obvious quiver in his voice,

"Um, Mary, Thomas and I used to work together years and years ago."

"Oh," Mary said, rather solemnly. The clock suddenly caught her eye and she realised that it was already six o'clock. "I'd better go and ring Matthew and tell him that I'm alright." She left the two men together. Thomas began to tell John exactly what had happened, as Mary hadn't had much time to explain it, but Mary left the room before she could hear much of the conversation. She paced up and down the corridor as she waited for Matthew to pick up the phone. "Hi, darling, it's me… I'm at the hospital – Anna and I were walking back and a car knocked us over… I'm fine, yes, but Anna's in surgery at the moment. When I last saw her she was unconscious, but I want to wait here until we have some more news… Yes, he's here as well… I may not be home at all, but if I am it'll be late – possibly after midnight… Okay… Love you too, bye." Mary hung up and slipped her phone back in her pocket. She walked back into the waiting room, only to find a nurse about to finish talking to John and Thomas. Mary walked over to them and asked what had happened. John replied, quite a bit calmer now,

"She's out of surgery – things are looking up a bit, but they're keeping an eye on her for a while. We'll be able to see her in about an hour." Mary sunk into the chair beside John and gave a small sigh of relief.

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_This idea just came to me, and I decided I'd write it down to see how it goes. There will be more chapters, we'll just see how things go. Let me know what your thought are if you can spare a minute or two._


	2. Chapter 2

**She's a Fighter: Chapter 2**

Mary sat in the waiting room. John was sitting with Anna and had convinced Mary to go home and get some rest. It was just after midnight. She saw Matthew walk through the door and sprung to her feet to greet him. She flung her arms around him and he said, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but Anna's not." This was a lie. Mary was not fine by any stretch of the imagination, but she wasn't going to dwell on her own feelings at that very moment. Her voice began to crack now. "She's been unconscious since it happened and hasn't shown any signs of getting better, other than the fact that her surgery went fine." Mary started crying into Matthew's shoulder. Matthew caressed Mary's back to calm her slightly. Mary lifted her head and Matthew wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Come on. We need to get you home and rested. We probably ought to go and tell John that we're going." Matthew took Mary's hand and let her lead him to Anna's hospital room where John was staring at his unconscious wife, waiting patiently for her to wake up and recover from her accident. He was determined that she would wake up and he would still have her as a wife for many more decades to come. Mary knocked on the open door to let John know that they were there. John looked up, but said nothing. He smiled ever so slightly at Mary and Matthew standing in the doorway. Mary started,

"Um, John, we're going to go home and see if we can get some rest, but we'll be back in the morning. Do let us know if anything happens… good or bad. Wake us up in the middle of the night if you have to." John nodded and then Mary and Matthew walked out of the room and soon were out of the hospital, in the car and on the way home.

Mary fell asleep in the car on the short drive home, and Matthew had to nudge her quietly so that she could walk into the house. Once they were in, Matthew took Mary's bag and coat from her, telling her that he'd put them away, if she'd go upstairs and begin getting ready for bed. Of course, Mary was in no state to argue, so she did what she was told. Matthew sorted things out quickly and soon was in the bedroom with her. Matthew got out Mary's nightdress as she began to undress herself. She didn't get very far though. Matthew walked over and helped her out of her many garments, placing the silk nightdress over her head before she clambered into bed. Matthew then undressed himself as far as his boxers and climbed into bed after her. He spooned around her and flopped one arm over her side. Mary's breathing was slow and steady and she didn't move. She was already asleep and Matthew didn't blame her. Hopefully things would turn out well for Anna. If Anna were to take a turn for the worse, Mary would never be able to forgive herself, even though she knew that she could have done nothing to prevent it from happening. She and Anna had been practically one person for so many years, that to lose one or the other of them would be like losing a leg or an arm – maybe both. Matthew did feel awfully sorry for her. It was unlike Mary to show her emotions, even to Matthew, himself, but she had let out more emotion in the past half day than Matthew knew she could possibly have in her. All this told Matthew was that his wife had been hit emotionally hard by the news that her best friend may never speak to her again. However, Matthew was tired and he decided that it probably wasn't a great idea to dwell on unhappy thoughts when the outcome currently had just as much chance of being good as bad. He tuned into his wife's slow and steady breathing and soon he, too, was asleep and breathing steadily.

The next morning, Matthew woke Mary up with a cup of tea. She sat up in bed and stared into her mug of steaming liquid. "Any news?" she asked her husband, knowing that the answer wouldn't be positive.

"None. Nothing good, but nothing bad either." Mary sighed. "My darling, there was nothing that you could've done to stop it."

"Wasn't there?" Mary said. She was beginning to doubt that. What if they'd have got to the bus stop on time? Then they'd have been able to catch the earlier bus that they were intending to catch in the first place. Maybe if Mary hadn't double booked herself, they would've gone to town when they had first planned – the day before – and then nothing bad would've happened. "Matthew, what have I done?" she asked, finally looking up at her husband, beginning now to get teary-eyed.

"Mary, you've done nothing wrong." He sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Mary, it wasn't your fault and it wasn't Anna's fault, and Thomas was only trying to save himself from what I understand. It was that idiot in that Prius that has disturbed the peace." Mary leaned into Matthew and sobbed. "Why don't you drink your tea, have some breakfast, give yourself some time to wake up and then go to the hospital."

"You can't come with me, can you?" Matthew shook his head.

"My manager's tightening up on days off. If I have another day off within the next six month, unless I'm actually dying, then I'll get fired." Mary nodded slightly and took Matthew's advice. She sipped at her tea as she got out of bed. She walked down the stairs and plodded into the kitchen, tears still making her cheeks damp, in order to scavenge for some breakfast. She put her tea down on the table. She walked over to the side of the room and reached up to the shelf holding the cereal boxes. Matthew came up behind her and got it down for her. She turned to see him smiling at her. He bent down slightly to give her a kiss. "Go and sit down, love," he instructed, not unkindly. "I'll get your breakfast ready." So Mary sat at the island in the middle of her large kitchen and Matthew brought her some breakfast. Mary was falling to pieces and Matthew could see that, he just didn't know what to do about it. Once they'd both finished their breakfast they went upstairs to change out of pyjamas. Matthew then offered to drive her to the hospital on the way to work. She had the week off from work, so that wasn't a problem for her and Matthew knew that she'd feel better if she got first-hand information from being at the hospital when anything happened, rather than having John ring her with information.

As Matthew pulled up by the entrance to the hospital, he looked at Mary. "Do you need me to come in with you?" Mary shook her head mutely, but didn't smile, knowing that anything could happen to the one friend who'd stood with her through thick and thin, even when other people said that they hated her and objected to her opinion. "You can't overthink this, darling," Matthew continued. "You can't make this worse than it is. You really shouldn't worry about something if you don't know that there's something to worry about." Matthew inwardly thought that he hadn't articulated himself very well, but Mary nodded, understanding his words. She looked into her lap briefly and then looked back up at Matthew. She gave him one chaste kiss to say goodbye for the day and then proceeded to get out of the car. She watched Matthew begin to drive off, but soon turned to the hospital doors, clenched her jaw and walked forward. She understood Matthew, but she wasn't going to take his advice. When it involved her best friend of over ten years, of course she'd worry about anything and everything.

* * *

_I know this update has taken forever to come up, but only because I started writing this chapter and had writer's block and then I started back at school last week, so I've been inundated with homework. Let me know what you think about this chapter - it was a bit of mix and match, so we'll see what happens to this story as we go._


	3. Chapter 3

**She's a Fighter: Chapter 3**

Just as Mary walked through the hospital doors she saw Sybil in her uniform behind the desk, talking to someone on the phone. Mary knew she had to sign a visitors' book to let the hospital know that she was there, and there was nobody else there apart from her little sister, so she waited for her to finish talking to the doctor on the other line. As soon as Sybil put the phone down she finally looked up and realised that it was Mary standing there. "Oh!" she said brightly. "Hi, Mary, what are you doing here?"

"I'd forgotten you worked here," Mary said, still sullen and worried.

"I have done for a few years now, Mary," Sybil said, not unkindly.

"Yeah, well," Mary dismissed the fact that she didn't always pay attention to her sister's life. "Anna's here."

"Anna Bates?" Mary nodded. Sybil knew that it could have been anything and decided not to think of the worst that could've happened to her, knowing that she'd probably be overreacting, so she said calmly, "What's happened?"

"She's in a coma," Mary said, uneasily. Sybil clapped a hand to her mouth. She was well aware that the hospital had a coma ward, but Sybil worked mostly in A&E, and had only ever worked in the coma ward once in this hospital when they were massively short staffed. Before she could ask what happened, Mary explained, as if she'd read Sybil's mind. "Long story short, we were walking down the street and one car raced past on the wrong side of the road and so the car on the right side swerved and hit us. It didn't end well." Sybil walked around the desk to give Mary a hug, but then went back into work mode and told her that she had to sign the book, so she did so, and Sybil would've come with her to see Anna make sure she was okay, but Dr Clarkson, Sybil's superior, walked around the corner and told her that they desperately needed her to help. So Sybil left Mary with a comforting touch to the shoulder and a sweet smile.

Mary walked down the hall into the room in which Anna lay lifeless and dull. Bates wasn't there. She didn't know whether he'd finally gone home to get some rest or he'd just popped out of the room for a while, but she knew that wherever he was, he must have been unhappy. She walked into the room and sat in the soft chair next to the bed of her best friend. She didn't know what to do – she knew that she should talk to Anna, but she didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. Instead she turned her attention to the monitor on the opposite side of Anna's bed and watched the steady image of Anna's heart rate and tuned into the sounds of the various beeps from the various machines keeping Anna alive. Mary had done a little research on the way to the hospital and had found that Anna may come back to the world in a week, but if something really was bad it could be months to wait. All Mary could do was hope. She wasn't sure if she believed in God, but she had been praying silently for Anna to recover quickly, just on the off-chance that some greater body might hear her and give her what she wanted. One of the nurses walked in and made sure everything was alright, wrote some figures down on a clipboard and offered Mary a sympathetic smile. Mary didn't dismiss it – she was grateful for it, but she didn't have it in her to smile back or make conversation. She knew that some people would come in with strange remedies and weird ways of trying to get a coma patient back to life, but Mary trusted the hospital staff whole heartedly and knew that if anybody could get Anna back into the land of the living, it was them. So Mary tried her best to relax a little and think of how things could go well rather than thinking about how much had gone wrong so far.

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_I'm fully aware that this chapter is extremely short and that it doesn't really contribute much to the story, but I don't really know what to do next. I've managed to write a story about a coma patient, which I know nothing about, and I usually write Sybil/Tom fics, so writing one with no Sybil/Tom interaction is quite tricky for me as I'm not sure what the characters would do, so please bear with me if this story is really uninteresting and the updates take a long time... But thank you so much for reading, though!_


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